Updating Windows Drivers

As you know, the drivers were created in order to familiarize the operating system (in our case Windows) with this or that equipment. In other words, their task is to teach the system to communicate with the device, to manage it, to transmit and receive information, etc. Update drivers in many cases and not required, because the devices do not bear much responsibility (for example, web cameras, mouse, keyboard, etc.) - a one-time installation is quite enough. However, devices such as a graphics card and sound card require these updates because the software they manage (video and music editors, games) is constantly updated.

Driver Update: The Easiest Way

Today the world seeks to automate any process. The same happens with personal computers. Thanks to this, various programs for updating drivers appeared, which themselves are able to detect obsolete or completely absent drivers and update or install them.

All such programs can be divided into two categories:

1. Those that can work without the Internet. By installing a similar program or by starting it from a disk, you can update the drivers without access to the network. Usually they have a large size (from 3 GB and above).
2. Those that work only through the Internet. Similar programs have a small size, but when you install a driver, they need the Internet, as they will download files from the network.

Working with them is easy - after launching the program itself will offer an update or installation of the driver, will perform all the necessary actions. It's worth noting that updating drivers using one of these applications is not always free. Therefore, it's up to you to decide whether to pay for convenience or to try to find the necessary software yourself.

Update drivers: self-search

It is a bit harder to perform both updating and installing drivers. The very first thing you can do is turn to friends, someone can and Has the necessary software. But if you do not have such acquaintances, you can update the drivers yourself using the Internet.

The first step is to find out the name of the device that requires updating or installing the driver. This can be done with the help of special utilities (such as Everest Ultimate), which will show the name. Knowing the name of the device, it is already easier to find the necessary software. If a manufacturer is known (for example, Nvidia), you can go to its official site - there is definitely a necessary driver for the latest version.

Updating drivers Windows 7, Vista, XP can be done in another way. When the device name is unknown and there are no special utilities to find out, you can try to find the necessary software by the device ID. To do this, click the mouse (right button) on the "My Computer" icon and select "Properties". For Windows7 and Vista, "Device manager" appears immediately on the right side, for XP, go to the "Hardware" tab at the top of the window, and then click the "Device Manager" button.

A long text will appear. However, the most valuable information is at the very beginning of the line - it's PCI \ VEN_ (symbols) and DEV_ (symbols). These data bear the name of the manufacturer (vendor) and the device supplied by it. This way you can update the drivers, knowing exactly the name of your equipment and the company that produced it.